Carla left, and Mattie waited for Stella to get the ball rolling.
“Deidra, when Tonya was found, she was already deceased but no longer pregnant.”
Deidra’s brows knit. “So she died in childbirth?”
“We don’t know.”
“When she left our office yesterday, I thought we would see her back here very soon. Her exam showed that her body was getting ready to deliver.” Deidra paused. “Have you talked to the people who were going to adopt the baby yet?”
“I’ve made an appointment to meet with them.”
Deidra lowered her gaze to study the floor. “Carla might have told you that I spoke out of turn about Tonya’s adoption plan. I regret that. But …”
There’s always a but when a person thinks they’re in the right, Mattie thought.
“But I feel passionately about going through formal channels for adoption, and that includes using an adoption agency.”
Stella nodded as if in sympathy and leaned forward with an open posture, her body language inviting Deidra to keep talking.
“I’m sorry if I caused Tonya distress. I should’ve kept my mouth shut.” Deidra’s mouth set in a line that implied that this was exactly what she intended to do now.
Though Stella waited, Deidra didn’t say anything more, making the detective break the silence. “Did you get a chance to talk to Tonya about it?”
Deidra shook her head, looking sad. “I planned to apologize to her the next time I saw her.”
Stella changed the subject. “What is your medical specialty, Deidra? Are you licensed as a nurse?”
“Oh, no. I’m a certified medical assistant. My on-the-job experience and training are what give me the obstetrical specialty.”
“How long have you worked here?”
“About a year, but I worked for another midwife years ago before I moved to Colorado.”
Mattie decided to jump into the conversation. “And where was that?”
“In California, but that clinic closed, and I worked for an orthopedic surgeon for a while before moving here. I’m lucky to have this job, because I’d much rather work with expectant moms and experience their joy when they have babies.”
Mattie hoped to nudge her back to the situation with Tonya. “Though not all births are joyful, I suspect.”
“True, although there’s nothing better than helping a new life come into the world.” The smile Deidra offered seemed genuine.
Mattie realized that the information she’d received about Tonya’s encounter with this woman had come secondhand from Ben and might have been colored by teenage drama. Though both Deidra and her boss seemed to agree that criticizing Tonya’s adoption plan had been inappropriate, Mattie could also see that under the circumstances, it might have touched a raw nerve on Tonya’s part. “Did Tonya express any ambivalence about going through with her pregnancy?”
Deidra raised a finely sculpted eyebrow. “No, not at all. She came to us after she’d reached the cutoff for legal abortion and seemed determined to follow through with her plan.”
“Do you ever provide pain medication for the patients you follow here?” Mattie asked.
“Oh no, that would be way outside my scope of care. I follow through with whatever Carla suggests for each patient, providing education or facilitating referrals, that kind of thing.”
And though they’d already asked Carla about fentanyl, Mattie wanted confirmation from a second source. “And does Carla provide or recommend pain medications?”
Deidra shook her head. “We emphasize pain management techniques that don’t include the use of drugs.”
“Have you ever worked with a midwife or physician who used fentanyl as a method for pain control?”
Deidra looked surprised. “Not for labor and delivery, although the doctors at the orthopedic clinic I worked at sometimes prescribed it.”
Mattie thought again of Johnson and the pain he must be in. “Was that common?”
Deidra frowned as if conjuring up that time. “I’m not sure. It was never my role to discuss or administer medications. I worked primarily as an assistant for exams, you know, setting up and cleaning up, that type of thing. If a patient said they were having uncontrolled pain, I reported it to the nurse or the MD, and they handled it.”
Deidra seemed to be providing the right answers, and Mattie felt they’d covered the misunderstanding she’d had with Tonya adequately. She settled back in her chair and allowed Stella to take over.
And Stella seemed ready to move in a new direction. “Tonya’s appointment here was one of the last places she went before her death. Did she happen to say where she was headed next?”
Again, that expression of discomfort crossed Deidra’s face. “No, but … I spoke to her only briefly while I took her vitals … before she met with Carla. Uh … Tonya seemed reserved, and when I tried to visit with her, she wouldn’t engage like she used to. I’m embarrassed to say I know now that she was mad at me.”
Indeed, Deidra looked regretful and ashamed as she sat with her eyes downcast, a rosiness moving into her cheeks.
“So you didn’t see her again before she left?” Stella asked.
“Only to say good-bye as she walked out the door.”
“And what time was that?”
“About ten. Carla had been with her for about an hour and a half, teaching those pain management techniques we talked about. I worked in here loading charges into the computer for insurance billing.”
“So what time did you leave here?” Stella asked, getting into Deidra’s alibi.
Deidra released an audible sigh. “Carla talked to me about Tonya’s complaint, so I left here around eleven. I keep a time card, and I could give you the exact time if you want it.”
“About eleven will do.” Stella leaned back as if lounging in her chair, though Mattie knew she was anything but relaxed. “Could you give us a general outline of what you did for the rest of the day?”
“I was upset that I’d created a problem for one of our patients.” The memory of it creased Deidra’s brow. “I went to the store to pick up some cleaning supplies and then went home. I was too upset to eat lunch, so I scoured my entire house top to bottom, including the cabinets and the refrigerator.”
Mattie could relate to working off emotions with activity. That’s why she and Robo ran the foothills around Timber Creek.
“Then I did some yoga practice to try to calm my mind, cooked a nice meal, since I was starving by then, and went to bed early. That was my day, and I have to say, I felt bad about Tonya through most of it.” She was shaking her head. “I ended up lying awake, so I watched Netflix before I finally crashed.”
“And were you with anyone else yesterday?” Stella asked.
“I live alone. Maybe if I’d called a friend, I could have let go of some of those bad feelings I was having, but I didn’t. I don’t like to be a burden to my friends.”
The strain on Deidra’s face as she’d described her day looked genuine to Mattie. She couldn’t think of anything else to ask and thought maybe they should wrap things up and move on; perhaps they could interview this Dr. Rodman before having to leave Hightower to make it to their appointment back in Timber Creek.
Evidently, Stella felt the same way, and she ended the interview by asking Deidra to invite Carla back into the lobby. She gave her business cards to the two women and asked them to contact her if they thought of anything else that might be useful.
The sun had risen further in the sky, and drips off icicles that hung from the eaves plopped onto the ground beneath. Mattie paused at Deidra’s car and took note of the car’s make, model, and license plate on her pad, a habit she’d developed early in her tenure in law enforcement. It was a maroon Mazda CX-5 SUV, and it looked clean enough to indicate that it had been parked somewhere during the storm last night instead of being out on the road.
Robo greeted them exuberantly as they climbed back into the car, and Mattie gave him a thorough petting as she asked S
tella if she wanted to try to track down the doctor before leaving town.
“We have time, don’t we?” Stella swiped open her cell phone and asked Google to find his number. Within seconds she had his answering service on the phone.
Mattie listened to Stella’s one-sided conversation, gleaning enough to know that Dr. Rodman was out of town for the weekend.
Stella disconnected the call. “Well, the doctor might be able to confirm what we’ve learned about pain management at this clinic, but he doesn’t appear to be a lead related to Tonya’s death. He’s in Denver for a conference, and I’ll be able to confirm his presence there easily, since he was scheduled as one of yesterday evening’s speakers. He’s supposed to be back in the office tomorrow, probably home later today, and I left a message for him to call me back.”
“All right.” Mattie gave Robo one last pat and started the engine. “That’s the Double Dollar next door, the discount store where Tonya and Skylar supposedly met. Let’s go see if they have video cameras that might have recorded Skylar and Tonya’s meeting.”
“Sounds good.” Stella began writing in her notebook.
Mattie drove around the block and turned into the lot behind the building, which was almost empty on this Sunday morning. Out of habit, she scanned the few cars that were there, and a grimy, silver Honda Civic with a dented rear bumper caught her eye. Her heartbeat quickened as she read the license plate.
“There’s Tonya’s car right there,” she said, turning in beside it.
“Well, I’ll be damned.” Stella reached for her cell phone before Mattie could bring her vehicle to a full stop.
TWENTY
Cole didn’t have much of a stomach for digging up graves, but he couldn’t stand by and let Garrett do it. He dismounted from his horse and rushed over to untie the tools from behind his friend’s saddle. “Stay put, Garrett. I’ll take these over to Sergeant Madsen.”
“All right.” Garrett hitched up one hip and turned in the saddle to watch Cole. “I brought that pry bar in case they want to probe the ground below the surface with it.”
“Good idea.”
Cole carried the tools to where Madsen and Hauck stood talking. Hauck looked excited as he gestured toward the spot that Fritz had just indicated, while Madsen looked grim.
Hauck was saying, “What’s the likelihood of anything being buried here? I assume this area was searched months ago after John Cobb was arrested. Why wasn’t anything found here then?”
Madsen flung out his arm, gesturing wide to encompass the forest. “Look at this terrain. Without the marks on that map, discovering something buried out here would probably be impossible, even with dogs. And as far as I know, this is the first time this area has been searched by dogs.”
Though Cole agreed with Madsen’s response, he held back until he made eye contact with the sergeant, then lifted the pry bar. “If you want to probe the ground, Garrett brought this.”
Madsen nodded and reached for the bar. It was about four feet long, pointed at one end and bent in a ninety-degree angle with a flattened edge at the other. “We might as well try it.”
Hauck stood back while Madsen tamped the bar into the ground. At first it looked like the bar met resistance from hard soil. Madsen tried another spot about six inches from the first and seemed to get the same effect, but this time he leaned into it. The bar sank slowly at first, then shot downward almost its full length into the ground. Madsen released the tool as if it burned his hands. He straightened and looked at Cole. “Feels like open space a couple feet down.”
Cole knew what that meant—a grave site with decomposing remains. And he would bet that Garrett recognized it too. He turned to check on his friend in time to see him give a short salute before turning to ride away. Cole felt relieved that Garrett had decided to remove himself from the scene.
“What are the odds of an animal being buried here?” Hauck asked.
“Slim to none.” Madsen walked over toward Cole and reached for the shovel. “These dogs are trained to detect human decomp, and that’s what they do.”
This was police business, and Cole was happy to stand back and let Madsen take over. Madsen went back to the pry bar, bent forward, and tugged it from the ground. It came up easily, bringing soil with it.
A man of substantial size, Madsen bent to the task of digging up shovelfuls of dirt that looked relatively loose compared to the tightly packed, stony soil typical of the Rockies. The odor of decayed flesh began to infiltrate the air.
Madsen stopped digging and looked at Hauck. “We have clothing. We’re going to need a forensic team to excavate this grave site.”
Hauck nodded as he withdrew his phone from his pocket and began dialing. He stepped away while speaking into the phone. “Sheriff McCoy, we’ve got a body here, and we’re going to need a forensic team to recover it. We’re about a half mile up the Redstone Ridge trail.”
Hauck’s voice faded as he continued to walk away and make plans with McCoy. Cole began to wonder where this would lead. This must be another one of John Cobb’s victims. But what did they have going on here? Two bodies within close proximity in two days—were the two deaths connected somehow?
The other handlers had continued searching, rotating through the quadrants as originally planned. A shout came from outside another grove of trees not too far away. “Sarge! Over here! We’ve got a hit!”
Heart in his throat, Cole whirled and hurried through the forest, searching for the handler who’d called out. He spotted him about fifty yards away near the base of a tall pine. It was the guy with the black Lab, the dog trained to detect explosives.
His handler had him by the collar and was speed-walking away from the spot the dog had indicated, as if afraid it might blow at any minute.
* * *
Stella disconnected her call and pocketed her cell phone. “Sheriff McCoy will get a warrant and will arrange covered transport for the car to our lab. I need to go inside and see if we have CCTV out here. Will you stay and guard it?”
“Will do.” Mattie peered inside the Honda’s windows, taking note of the mess within. Food wrappers, soda cans, and items of clothing littered the back seat and floor, and black and white dog hairs coated the front passenger seat. It would be a challenge for the crime scene techs to sort through all of it for trace evidence. Perhaps they would have some luck at finding fingerprints.
She wanted to sweep the car’s exterior for drugs. She didn’t anticipate finding anything, but under the circumstances, she thought it prudent to look. If there were fentanyl patches in the car, Robo would probably detect them.
As Stella hurried toward the store entrance, Mattie went back to Robo’s compartment. He danced in place as she splashed some water in his bowl and took out the blue nylon collar he used for narcotics detection. Even as she removed his leather collar and buckled on the blue one, he settled into work mode, his eyes pinned on hers. When she clipped on his leash and asked him to unload, he circled her legs and sat at her left heel without needing direction. He stared up at her.
Mattie began the chatter used to rev up his prey drive, thumping his sides as she pulled him close to her leg. It didn’t take much to get Robo excited, and soon he looked ready to begin. “Wanta find some dope? Let’s find some dope.”
Robo’s training involved a passive method of indicating, so she knew he wouldn’t touch the surface of a vehicle unless she told him to. There would be no paw or scratch marks left on the exterior.
The car looked like it could have been out on the road during the storm last night. She led Robo to the rear bumper first and did a visual inspection of the dents there, both on the bumper and on the upper trunk. They weren’t deep or crumpled like those left from metal against metal. Instead, they were shallow and rounded, as if the car had come into contact with something soft.
Like a person. Rear bumper damage would be consistent with the signs they’d read on the ice and snow at Johnson’s crime scene last night.
She used o
ne hand to direct Robo’s nose toward the underside of the bumper while holding his leash in the other. Her dog, his ears pinned alongside his head, sniffed where she pointed. Then Mattie moved around the car, asking him to sniff the cracks at the trunk, doorways, and hood, paying special attention to the wheel wells.
No hits. If there had been drugs in this car, even if they were sealed, she would bet her next paycheck that Robo would have smelled them. His lack of response supported her theory that Tonya wasn’t a drug user, and the girl probably wasn’t the type to self-medicate either.
After all, if Tonya had wanted to use pain meds during her labor and delivery, why would she have sought a midwife’s services to begin with? She would have gone the more common route of traditional medicine and found a doctor who shared that philosophy.
Hurried and purposeful footsteps sounded behind her, and she turned to find Stella coming back from the store with a steely glint in her eyes.
“They have a surveillance system inside but no cameras out here. They gave me access to yesterday’s recordings, though, and I downloaded them on my thumb drive. Maybe we can still pick up something important.” Stella paused before adding, “I got a call from Sheriff McCoy.”
Mattie could tell that the sheriff had called with some important news.
Stella continued, “The dog team found a shallow grave near the Redstone Ridge trailhead. McCoy has called in the CBI to excavate the grave and an agent to help with that investigation.”
Calling in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation was a big step. “John Cobb marked that part of the trail on the map. I think it’s safe to assume that sometime before we arrested him, he either killed this person or had a part in disposing of the body,” Mattie said.
“That’s a fair assumption. Now, if they can only find some proof. There’s more—the explosives dog hit on something that they haven’t dug into yet. They’re waiting for a CBI explosives team to make sure they’re not sitting on a booby trap.”
“Good grief.” Mattie couldn’t believe how the Cobb investigation had taken off. “Drugs, explosives, and a body. What next?”
Striking Range Page 19